Federal immigration enforcement officers at the southern border made more than a quarter million encounters with illegal aliens in October 2022, the first month of Fiscal Year 2023. With 230,678 total encounters, October set an all-time record that blows the previous monthly high out of the water.
U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 204,273 illegal aliens who crossed the southern border (a 1.6% decrease compared to August). Additionally, the Office of Field Operations encountered an additional 26,405 inadmissible aliens at America’s ports of entry (a 32.4% increase compared to a month prior).
Of the October totals, approx. 159,000 of the aliens were single adults, 59,000 were part of a family unit, and 12,000 were unaccompanied alien children. Roughly 45,000 of total encounters had been previously caught trying to enter and turned away but tried to enter again.
78,000 of the 204,273 alien encounters were returned across the border. The vast majority of the remaining 152,000 were released into the nation’s interior, where they may face removal proceedings five to eight years later.
Despite the record-setting numbers, CBP acting Commissioner Troy Miller celebrated a decrease in illegal aliens from Venezuela, which the Biden Administration has decided to begin turning away. 23,000 Venezuelan aliens were encountered in October compared to 34,000 in September.
Miller wrote in a statement:
We implemented a new process for Venezuelan nationals that has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of Venezuelan encounters at our border. The new process has seen Venezuelan encounters drop from approximately 1,100 per day to about 300 per day by the end of October.
Nevertheless, “the number of Cuban and Nicaraguan immigrants coming across the border remains at all-time highs due to authoritarian governments that have prompted millions to flee to other Western Hemisphere countries,” reports the Washington Examiner.